The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-04

gave himself for me-" Gal. H. COL
The life which 1 now live in the flesh,
what strange thing it is-life in the
fiesh-a living spirit in dead earth
mind in matterl What it is, whence it
is. and how it is, no man can tell. We
have been guessing at its philosophy
since the world began; and we are
guessing still. Its origin, its essence
and its processes, who can fathom!
Who has gone below the surface, or
found for it more than name?
I ask the religionist, what is hfeT
and he answers, sit is divine spark
the immortal part of our being"
ask him for its origin, and he says
from God, and there he stops. ask
the scientist, what is life? Ana ne
tells me protoplasm, and can say no
more. I ask him whence it comes, and
his latest answer is, 1.-THE fountain and
process of all life is evolution" and he
could 20 no further. The philosopher
can do no better. He may reason from
cause to effect, or lead you through
processes or induction or deductlon'
but he cannot touch the essence OF this
thing we call life. They all talk about
it, and around it, and give it different
names, but that is the end. Ihey
know not whence it comes or whittier
it goes. Man with his wondrous skill,
may manipulate matter, and transform
it like magic, but life, this common
life, eludes his grasp. He can select
and combine the various elements in
exact proportion that the egg contains;
but by no human process can he bring
life out of his mixture. What is the
impalpable substance which man can
not find in the egg by the finest analy-
sis or the most powerful lens, and
which he cannot put in the egg9 Who
put it there and whence did it come
Did some of you think, when read
you the text, that Paul was tinctured
with superstition, and was old fogyish
when he said: "This life which l now
live in the flesh, live by faithT' But
when you weigh the problem OF life in
it's vastness, you will say: Paul was
right; we live this life in the flesh by
faith?'' No lead of human knowledge
has sounded its depths. No telescope
of human vision has pierced its vast
ness. The secret of this life no man
has found out.
Here is grain of corn, in it you can
see no more life than in stone. Put
it in the earth, which seems as dead as
the kernelf itself, and forth it springs in
to life. Whence came that life, and
what is it? Here is a little brown lump.
1t was once worm feeding on the
growing corn. Now it seems lifeless
and dead, but at length one end opens
and out comes new life, and we call
il a butterfly. 1t flies where it chooses.
1t lights upon the stalk of corn. The
corn grows but cannot move, This is
the life of growth-but here is new
form of life, the life Of voluntary mo-
ton. Will you tell me why this differ
ence, and exactly what is the difference?
Look again. Here is lump OF flesh
and bones. 1t is helpless babe, and
the most helpless thing on earth. 1t
cannot draw its food from the soil, ike
the corn. 1t cannot, like the butterfly,
90 in search of it. But with the ten
derest care it shows the life of the corn,
it grows, and the life of the butterfly,
it moves, and at length new and still
higher life appears-it can talk, think
and reason.
And now can you tell me the philoso-
ply of all this ? Tell me how the first
comes out of the ground, how the second
springs from the first, the third from
the rest? How are all these forms of
life related to each other, and how do
they all combine to make this complex
life we live as men, the highest type
of all life we know? Who can answer?
The religionist, the philosopher, the
scientist, all have answers. But they
are not final or complete; they only
help us to study the great problem of
life, of which we know so little.
The life which we live in the flesh
we live by faith. But it is not blind
faith. 1t is faith enlightened by all
the accumulated wisdom of mans best
and deepest study. 1t is not faith in
the barbarism, or superstition, or igno-
rance of mans childhood. 1t is faith
in the life that now is; this present life,
encircled by the noblest and best lives
of the past; by all that man has accom-
pIished and by the highest ideals of
life which his own lofty soul has con-
ceived. 1t is faith in the noblest type
of life the world has ever seen. AS
Paul puts it, we live this life of flesh
by faith in the Son of God, who loves
us and gave his life for US. We live
this lower life by faith in a higher life
"a life of love for us, that gives itself
for others. We are content with this
common life, while we can strive for
the rare life that is our ideal, that
grandest type of manhood, which is
L